Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Princeton Hosts Villanova In Second Half Of Saturday Hoop Doubleheader
November 17, 2011 | Women's Basketball
Princeton, N.J., and Villanova, Pa., are separated by about 50 miles.
Their women's basketball programs are separated by 26 years, or way longer than any current player has been around. For that matter, Princeton coach Courtney Banghart was somewhere around the first grade when these two last got together.
Princeton played four of the other five Philadelphia Division I schools last season alone with games against St. Joe's, Drexel, La Salle and of course Penn twice. The most recent game against Temple goes back to the 2002-03 season.
Villanova? That's another story.
Princeton and Villanova last played on Nov. 26, 1984, early in the season that the Wildcats' men's team made its legendary run to the NCAA championship. Before that meeting, the teams were regular opponents, and Villanova was the first current Division I team that Princeton ever played in women's basketball, back in 1972.
The teams played 14 times, once each season, for the first 14 years of Princeton women's hoops - and then suddenly the series disappeared, for the better part of three decades.
It resumes this weekend, as Princeton hosts Villanova Saturday at 3 in the back end of a Jadwin Gym doubleheader that begins at 12:30 when the Princeton men host Buffalo.
* * *
The coaching matchup in the last Princeton-Villanova game was Princeton's Joan Kowalik and Villanova's Harry Perretta.
Kowalik, who was in Year 1 of her 11-season run as the head coach of the Tigers when Princeton last played Villanova, is the all-time leader in coaching victories at Princeton with 163. Courtney Banghart ranks third all-time with 73, one away from catching Richard Barron for second.
As for Perretta, he is still to this day the Villanova coach, and the Wildcats' win over Iona in the season's second game was his 600th. Counting his team's win over Marist Wednesday night, Perretta now has a career record of 601-378 in his 34 seasons on the Main Line.
For the record, since the last Villanova game, Princeton has had five head coaches - Kowalik, Elizabeth Feeley, Kevin Morris, Barron and Banghart.
* * *
Princeton, Villanova and Marist are in the middle of something of a round-robin.
The week began when Villanova defeated Marist 60-53 Wednesday night before taking on Princeton. The Tigers then host Marist Monday night.
Villanova, which opened the season with a win over then-No. 25 Michigan State, and Marist were both in the "others receiving votes" category this week.
* * *
Princeton is 2-0, which doesn't seem that extraordinary until you consider that this is the 11th time the 40 seasons of Princeton women's basketball that the team has won its first two games.
Princeton is 2-0 for the second time in three years. Prior to that, Princeton won its first two games twice in the previous 18 years.
Princeton came agonizingly close to being 2-0 a year ago as well before falling in the final seconds 54-53 at Rutgers.
* * *
Princeton has won 23 straight games at Jadwin Gym, dating back to a 60-50 loss to Rutgers almost two years ago.
The 23-game home winning streak is the longest such streak in program history.
* * *
Princeton has forced 55 turnovers in two games (28 vs. St. Joe's, 27 vs. Lafayette), for an average of 27.5 per game.
A year ago, Princeton forced 17.2 turnovers per game.
Princeton's turnover margin is currently +9.5; a year ago, it was +3.0.
Princeton's first opponent, St. Joe's, shot 43% for the game, which wasn't that far behind Princeton's 46%. Because of the turnovers, Princeton attempted 61 shots in the game to 49 for the Hawks.
Against Lafayette, Princeton combined the 27 turnovers with 28% field goal percentage defense - and the result was a 40-point win.
* * *
Princeton had four players in double figures against Lafayette - Niveen Rasheed (22), Nicole Hung (11), Lauren Edwards (10) and Alex Rodgers (10).
The last time Princeton had had four players in double figures in a game was, well, the game before it, against St. Joe's, when Rasheed, Edwards, Megan Bowen and Kate Miller were all in double figures.
* * *
Princeton is 14-47 all-time against the schools that right now, today, are in the Big East.
Included in that record is the 6-8 mark against Villanova, which of course is meaningless, given how long ago it was.
Princeton has played Rutgers more times than any other current Big East team and is 3-15 all-time in that series, though Rutgers hasn't been in the Big East the entire time.
Much more recently, Princeton was eliminated from the opening round of the 2011 NCAA tournament by Big East-member Georgetown.
* * *
Princeton was named the preseason Ivy League favorite in the media poll. The Tigers, who have won the league the last two years, received 14 of 17 first-place votes.
* * *
The Princeton women's basketball team had three 20-win seasons prior to Courtney Banghart's arrival, having won 20 games in 1987-88 and 1995-96 and a program-best 21 in 2005-06.
Princeton won 26 games in 2009-10 an then 24 in 2010-11.
* * *
The Princeton women's basketball team spent 11 days touring in France and Senegal in September, playing four games (two in Paris, two in Senegal).
In addition to the basketball, the team visited all of the historical and cultural sights in Paris, including Notre Dame and the Louvre.
In Senegal, the team conducted a basketball clinic for local children and visited an orphanage, among other service-oriented events.
What Can You Say About ...
Devona Allgood #44
• 2010-11 first-team All-Ivy League
• 2009-10 second-team All-Ivy League
• 2008-09 honorable mention All-Ivy League
• has played in all 88 games of her career, starting 75, including every game the last three seasons
• has 897 career points
• had nine points and six rebounds vs. St. Joe's and six points and six rebounds against Lafayette
• scored in double figures in 21 of 29 games last year
• eighth in program history with 638 career rebounds; needs 22 to tie for seventh
• has attempted - and made - one career three-pointer, as the shot clock was expiring against Harvard last year
Megan Bowen #43
• had 12 points in the win over St. Joe's
• had six points and three rebounds against Lafayette
• shooting .545 from the field (6 for 11) through two games
• appeared in the first 24 games of last year before injuring her shoulder against Columbia; missed four games before returning for NCAA tournament
• scored nine points on 3 of 5 shooting and added five rebounds in NCAA tournament game against Georgetown
• had a career-high 15 in win at home against Yale
• led team in scoring for first time in career with 14 points at Dartmouth
Blake Dietrick #11
• scored her first seven points and had her first career three-pointer and assist in win over Lafayette
• made first collegiate appearance in game against St. Joe's
• led her high school team to an 84-9 record
• scored 1,440 career high school points, the most ever by a boy or girl at the school
• 2011 Massachusetts Player of the Year
Lauren Edwards #30
• first-team All-Ivy League each of the last two years
• started every game since the start of her sophomore year
• became the 19th 1,000-point scorer in Princeton women's basketball history against Lafayette
• is one of 10 players in school history with at least 100 career three-pointers
• has 1,005 career points; needs 13 to tie Kim Allen for 18th place and 53 to tie Allison Cahill for 17th
• has 101 career three-pointers; needs seven to tie Laura Leacy for ninth and then 60 more after that to tie Kim Allen for eighth
• has been in double figures in points in both of the first two games
• had 13 points and 10 rebounds in opener against St. Joe's
• scored in double figures in 20 of 29 games a year ago
• had five points and two rebounds in 12 minutes against Lafayette
• had a steal and rebound in four minutes against St. Joe's
• played in 16 games freshman year
• high game was 16 points against Penn
• scored six points in 19 minutes against Georgetown in the NCAA tournament game
Nicole Hung #10
• had 11 points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal in 16 minutes against Lafayette
• the 11 points were her second-highest total ever, behind career high of 12 against Brown last year, and gave her a third double figure game for her career
• had five points and two rebounds in 19 minutes against St. Joe's
• had a key three-point play during 10-0 run that broke game open early in second half against St. Joe's
• played in 22 games as a freshman
• led team with four assists and two steals in NCAA game against Georgetown
Laura Johnson #22
• had six points, three assists, three rebounds and two steals in 18 minutes against Lafayette; made both of her three-pointers in the game
• played in every game last year, starting four
• has played in all 87 games the last three years, with 10 starts
• led team with 16 points at Harvard
Kate Miller #20
• had a team-high and career-high 18 points against St. Joe's
• led team in scoring in a game for the first time in her career
• moved into starting lineup last year after Niveen Rasheed's knee injury
• played in all 29 games, starting 14, as a sophomore
• has played in every game of her career
• has had five career double figure games
• improved three-point shooting to 11 of 20 a year ago after shooting 2 for 19 freshman year; was 1 for 4 against St. Joe's
• had four assists, four rebounds and four steals in the opener against St. Joe's
• 2011 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year
• has started 52 games her career
• missed one game last year due to injury
• has 164 assists and 91 turnovers for her career
Niveen Rasheed #24
• had team-bests with 22 points, seven rebounds, four steals, three blocks and three assists - in 23 minutes - against Lafayette
• had 17 points, six rebounds and three assists in opener against St. Joe's
• shooting 51.7% from the field, including 62.5% on two-point shots
• has 683 career points
• returned this season after suffering a torn ACL against Davidson, in the 12th game of last season
• was averaging team-best 16.4 points and 7.3 rebounds per game at the time of the injury
• has been in double figures in 37 of 43 career games
• finished with the fourth-highest number of points on the team last year (197) despite playing only 12 games
• was the 2010 Ivy League Rookie of the Year (and a nine-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week) and a first-team All-Ivy League selection
Alex Rodgers #5
• had a career-high 10 points against Lafayette
• shot 3 for 4 against the Leopards, including 2 for 3 from three-point range; also had three rebounds, an assist and a steal
• played in 18 games as a freshman
Jess Shivers #23
• high school team went 80-8 in her four years, including 45-0 her sophomore and junior years
• shot 63 percent from the floor as a senior
• averaged 11.6 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.9 blocks, 1.7 steals and 1.5 assists per game her senior season
Mariah Smith #25
• had first career point and first two career rebounds in the game against Lafayette
• scored 1,897 career points in high school
• earned five all-state recognitions as a senior
• late father Mark Smith scored 1,653 points at Illinois and was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks